Yesterday, I finished a family of snowmen. I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able finish before Christmas, that I decided to really 'step on it'. Consequently, they're done well before time. The pattern, which I used for this project, is called the SnoBuddy Family by Chris de Longpre (you can purchase the pattern here). I bought mine as a kit from Mary Maxim because that was just more convenient for me. The snowmen are relatively easy and quick to make. They're not too large - the tallest are approximately 7" tall. I filled them first with a little bit of dried lentil seeds (you can also use dried beans or peas), and then with polyester fiberfill. The accessories required a bit more concentration and time, but that's because they're a bit small. And that's about it for today. Thank you for visiting. Have a super day.

OK... I haven't been here for a while. But you know how it is - life, lack of good health and time tend to get in the way of blogging.Anyway, I need to show you something beautiful that I received some time ago from Anya Es. She makes the most stunningly beautiful soutache jewelry. Anya is not only a master when it comes to imaginative forms and shapes, but she has a wonderful talent for combining colours. I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit Anya's blog here, and check out her creations. Look at this necklace and a brooch, which she made for me (sorry, the photos are not that great - the colours are much more beautiful and saturated in real life).

Now, in terms of my own handiwork, I haven't been very prolific lately. I managed to make two frilly scarves using the Frill Seeker Precious Metal Light yarn. If you'd like to know how to knit with this novelty yarn, please check out THIS VIDEO. Or, if you prefer to crochet, you may find THIS instruction video useful.

I also managed to crochet three dolls for my little girl. The pattern, by Deb Richey, is called "Weed In My Garden", and can be purchased here. The instructions are quite easy to follow and each doll is relatively quick to make. If I really wanted to, I could have made one "weed" per day. It took me about 10 days to crochet and assemble all three, but I wasn't working on them all day, every day. This project is also good for using up acrylic yarn remnants, which is what I did.

So, I guess that's that. Have a nice and peaceful day. XOX P.S. (I don't know what's wrong with Blogger today. It will not let me do the layout the way I want - it just does what it wants, when it wants. I guess it's possessed.)

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Today, I will write about crafts made by mother nature. Warning: loooong post.
Do you remember this kind of creature, which I wrote about some time ago?

This is a caterpillar of the Black Swallowtail butterfly. I had two in my garden. They were so cute, fat and ate a lot of my parsley. I called them Genio and Henio (Gene and Henry in English, but think: Itchy and Scratchy). The very next day after the previously mentioned post, Genio attached itself to the underside of a wooden handrail (the photo is bad because I couldn't properly fit the camera into the space) and made a handsome chrysalis:

The other one, Henio, was a bit reckless, hanging out on the parsley for all the neighbourhood birds to see. I decided that as soon, as it's ready to transform into chrysalis, I'll take it home and put it on my hibiscus plant. The very next day, that's what I did. It "run around" on the plant happily for about an hour and then spun it's little silk thread. Another hour or two later, Henio was hanging properly from the branch:

After another couple of hours, it formed a pretty chrysalis:

Notice, how the colour of the chrysalis depends largely on the colour of the surroundings it is attached to. Genio, which attached itself to a wooden rail, very closely resembled that type of wood. Henio, which found a place among green-white-yellow leaves, made a green-yellow chrysalis.

Well, I checked on these two several times a day, for almost two weeks. One morning, I went to check on Genio (the gray-brown one outside) and... it was gone!!! I missed its coming out! Apparently, this type of butterfly likes to be born between 5-11 a.m. I guess so. At that time, Henio on the hibiscus, didn't look anywhere ready to come out. Several days later, in the evening, I noticed it became more transparent and I could faintly see the yellow spots on its wings.

The silly hibiscus decided to drop just the very leaf Henio was attached to, so I fortified the stem with scotch tape. Anyway, I knew that the time of the butterfly's emergence is near - it could be minutes to hours. Of course, I didn't dare sleep that night. I really didn't want to miss this, especially that I have never seen the birth of a butterfly with my own eyes before (television programs don't count). So, at 5 a.m. - nothing. 6, 7, 8 a.m. still NOTHING. Until around 11:15 a.m., when I literally left for 30 seconds to put a towel in the laundry basket. I came back and Henio was totally out!!! I missed it! It wasn't so bad, though, because it was still all crumpled up. So, these are the very first pics of Henio (you can see how it progressively straightened its wings):

After about an hour, the butterfly started to walk on the plant and practiced opening its wings fully. And then... it turned out that Henio (Henry) is a Henrietta, i.e. we have a girl (males have more/bigger yellow spots and less blue)! I let her climb onto my hand and arm, and went to sit with her in the backyard.

Since my arm started getting a little stiff, I decided to put her on the parsley plant.

There, she sat for about an hour, preparing her wings for flight.

And then... she flew. Made one big circle in the air, came back to where I was standing and flew away for good, leaving behind her "Cinderella's slipper":

So, that was on July 20th. I didn't see her at all until today. Well, maybe it was the other butterfly (Genio), but I don't know whether it was a male or female. What visited us today was a female. Sure, it could have been an entirely different butterfly, but I have never seen this kind in real life, especially in my city, so I'm hoping it was "my" Henrietta. She sat on the parsley plant, then flew toward me and my daughter on the patio. She almost sat on my DD's head, then fluttered very close to my face and almost sat on my hand and went back to parsley. There, she stayed for several minutes and flew away again. However, she left us a gift - two tiny butterfly eggs:

I hope that they'll survive to become fully grown butterflies. By the way, observing the different stages of a butterfly's life was a very good learning experience for my daughter. I also didn't know that many people raise butterflies in their homes, although not all kinds of butterflies are suitable for this. That's it for now.
If you lasted this far into the post, thank you for your patience. Have a wonderful day. Kirk out.